1890

The fraternity scholarship figures for the last semester present a surprising change in studious atmosphere from the time that we became Dartmouth graduates. Of the fraternities that were in existence during our college course the one that stands highest in scholarship is Alpha Delta Phi. I can vouch personally for the statement that this was not the case in my time in Hanover. The second in such scholarship line is Theta Delta Chi, while the Dekes and the Tri Kaps, admitted scholarship leaders in our time, occupy third and fourth places, respectively. Phi Delta Theta is last in that list and Psi Upsilon is just above it. Another jewel in the Alpha Delt crown is the fact that it has more living graduates than any other of our fraternities. The survivors are Perry Boynton, Hardy, Hilton, Nutt, Safford and your secretary. The next in order of survivors are the Phi Delta Thetas, with Bacon, Billy Earle, Grover and Rowe. The only fraternity that has no survivor is Theta Delta Chi. It is certainly significant that "time marches on" when the Alpha Delts stand first in scholarship and the Tri Kaps with their six Phi Beta Kappa men in the '9O delegation sink to fourth place and now have only three surviving members. It would appear from these figures that lack of studiousness in college is an aid to longevity.

Hilton's retirement from Ginn & Company, an organization which he served from the time that he left college until last July, was followed by very flattering resolutions passed by his Board of Directors. It paid recognition to his career of more than half a century, in which period he served in every capacity from agent to chairman of the board of directors. And in this resolution it pays tribute to his "well attested wisdom, sagacity and insight" and to the leadership that he gave for so many years.

A number of alumni, including members of classes of our ancient vintage, have been awaiting some mark of disapproval from those on high in Hanover of the policy of The Dartmouth in turning itself into a political organ. There are many of us who do not believe that the college student even of today has sufficient knowledge of political life in the outside world or a mental maturity and experience properly to judge men prominent in the civic activities of the nation. These certainly believe that a college paper is wandering far afield from its home grounds when it states that such men as Senator Taft and Speaker Martin are "dangerous to economic, political and social progress in the United States." Nor do they believe that such attacks on public men, carried on for months, represent the proper sphere of a college newspaper. There would seem to be sufficient area for an undergraduate publication within the field of the College itself, and we have vainly hoped that some such attitude would be taken by authorities who have at heart the good of the institution. It is apparently now up to the alumni to do something to change a situation that seems to many of us to be undergraduate presumption that is both reprehensible and dangerous.

Safford has had another bout with illness and spent some unpleasant weeks at the Faulkner Hospital in Boston, but he is now up and out and doing. And the two of us have decided that for the rest of our lives, so far as hospitals are concerned, we will insist upon going by on the other side.

Mrs. Morrison keeps busy in keeping the home fires burning in Yonkers, N. Y., and keeping watchful eye over her daughter in Worcester, Mass., the wife of Colonel Crathern '20, and her son of the class of '18 in Scarsdale, N. Y. Her Crathern granddaughter is a student at the Katharine Gibbs School in New York and lives with her.

Humphreys intended to give Florida the pleasure of his presence during the winter, but could not get satisfactory accommodations, so he and wife will go as far South as Charleston, S. C., with their daughter who holds a responsible position in the mathematical department of the Newark, N. J., High School. He tells me that he was interested in the article entitled Vanishing Indians and that his family has tried to do something to prevent the Dartmouth Indians from becoming extinct. At present he has a grandson and two great-grandsons headed for Dartmouth. Timberland conservation and golf are his hobbies, and he boasts that so far as the latter is concerned he has made three holes in one, two on his local course in Madison, Me., and one when playing at the aristocratic country club at Grosse Pointe, Mich.

Secretary and Treasurer, 2456 Tracy Place, N. W., Washington, D. C.